From November 20 to 26, the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Centre Prénatal et Jeunes Familles celebrated the Early Childhood Week (ECW), which began on Monday with Universal Children's Day to promote respect and rights for children. Blue ribbons and fingerless mittens circulated among all users and employees this week.

Blue ribbons and fingerless mittens for babies

The blue ribbon is proposed by the Regroupement des organismes Espace du Québec to mark National Day on November 20. It was worn by all employees at the Centre natal this week. The GSTP theme for its 8th edition is Rising Together for the Rights of Toddlers.

This year, instead of wearing the ECW emblematic blankie square, the employees set up a superb fingerless mittens project for babies. These tiny fingerless mittens were handed out to all employees and visitors/users of the Prenatal Center. Everyone was invited to insert a heartfelt wish and place the mitten on the Christmas tree. There will be eventually around 80 mittens in the Christmas tree," says General Manager Nancy Pelletier.

Letter to Guy Pilon and Marie-Claude Nichols

"On Thursday, the Centre Prénatal et Jeunes Familles sent a letter to elected officials Guy Pilon, Mayor of Vaudreuil-Dorion, and Marie-Claude Nichols, Member of the National Assembly for Vaudreuil, to make them aware of the importance of prioritizing toddlers, as proposed by the Collectif petite enfance via the Early Childhood Week," confirms Nancy Pelletier.

To mark the Grande semaine des tout-petits, the Centre prénatal would like to nominate and thank its dedicated team, made up of Chantal Darcy, Hélène Langevin, Stephanie Caron, Éloïse Pilon, Catherine Lemay, Lili-Rose Lemay, Arianne Côté, Karine Roy and Nancy Pelletier, for their incredible work with toddlers.

"No conditions are necessary to use our services, we're all about universal vulnerability," explains the director with conviction. She adds: "All our services are also offered in English ".

Each member of the team has changed the lives of many families at the Centre Prénatal et Jeunes Familles and in our community.

Support, conferences, referrals, etc.

The Centre Prénatal is the only organization in the region to offer drop-in parenting for children aged 0-18 months. It also offers a respite service for parents of children under 12 months. Conferences and training sessions, as well as support and guidance, are also part of the range of services available.

Nearly 10 workshops are offered each week. Some 2,000 families benefit from the center's various services every year.

The Vaudreuil-Soulanges Centre Prénatal et Jeunes Familles is a welcoming and caring environment that accompanies and equips those who wish to be parents, parents and children, offering them a diversity of resources, services and activities to help them grow better together.

It adapts and intensifies its services for families living in vulnerable situations, offering free individual support and group activities planned according to need. The Centre prénatal et Jeunes familles serves the 23 municipalities of Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

The Centre prénatal is located at 640A, rue Chicoine in Vaudreuil-Dorion. All information can be found on their website: https://centrepjf.org/ where links to their Facebook and Instagram pages are also accessible.